Conversations about the future of artificial intelligence are all over the place at this year’s SXSW, but not everyone at the festival is excited about the idea. Specifically, movie and TV fans who attended world premiere screenings of films such as “Fall Guys” and “Immaculate” at Austin’s Paramount Theater on Tuesday made their dissatisfaction with AI clear. (Scroll down to see for yourself.)
SXSW’s agile video editors cut daily hot reels highlighting previous panels, premieres, and other events to run before the festival screenings. On Tuesday, the fourth edition of its daily videos focused on various keynote speakers and panelists from around the city discussing AI. These people certainly seem bullish on artificial intelligence, and Paramount’s audience (many of whom likely spent much of 2023 on picket lines, including writers and actor) booed the video. . aloud. And often.
The boos were loudest when Peter Deng, OpenAI’s vice president of consumer products and head of ChatGPT, said on camera, “AI fundamentally makes us more human.” That’s what I actually think.”
That’s not a popular opinion. On Monday, Deng participated in the session “AI-Human Coevolution and Open AI Chat GPT Head” moderated by Signal Fire consumer VC and former TechCrunch editor Josh Constine.
Konstin drew jeers at the beginning of the video with another soundbite: “SXSW has always been a maker of digital culture, and if you look around this room, you’ll see that AI is culture.”
The video also featured futurist Amy Webb, CEO of the Future Today Institute and professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, who presented her 2024 Emerging Technology Trends Report. (Guess what technology trends are emerging!)
Another speaker is Sandy Carter, author of The Tiger and the Rabbit: Harnessing the Power of the AI and Blockchain for Business Success. Carter has a book to sell at her SXSW, and you can see where she stands. “I know my business will be disrupted, so I need to stop resisting and start learning,” she told the panel audience. Nothing boos more than people waiting to see “Immaculate.”
Magic Leap founder Ronnie Abovitz also groaned loudly. He gave the following advice during a panel discussion on “Storyworlds, Our Blue, and Amplifying Ethical Humanity with AI.” ”
The future of artificial intelligence is clearly on everyone’s minds, and for good reason. Variety’s “Power of Comedy” also opened with a bit of fun at the expense of AI. They tricked viewers into chanting “artificial intelligence,” and in doing so, preyed on them. (it was fun.)
Also on Tuesday, Everything Everywhere All at Once filmmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, known as Daniels, expressed concerns about the impact AI will have on storytelling.
That sentiment was certainly shared at Tuesday’s Paramount. Is it possible that an AI wrote The Fall Guy? Would you have been able to appear on “Immaculate”? no way. still. However, as artificial intelligence improves day by day, its practical applications are also evolving, and there is a threat that it could replace tasks previously handled by humans.
We used to laugh at some of the sentences ChatGPT came up with. It’s getting better and better, but it’s just not that interesting. A year ago, it seemed absurd that AI would replace actors. Well, Open AI’s Sora is innovative enough to scare Tyler and his Perry.
And that may be why the SXSW crowd couldn’t help but boo the notion that AI is “culture” or that it “fundamentally makes us more human.”
The audience at the Paramount Theater on Tuesday night was:
And here are the reactions of festival goers:
(Photo: Josh Constine and Peter Deng at “Featured Session: A Conversation with OpenAI’s Head of ChatGPT” as part of SXSW 2024 on March 11 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.)
